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Next up for DW and me: A land tour of Moscow and Norway, coupled with a Scandinavia/St. Petersburg cruise in June.

It has been many years since I was in Norway, it is on my list so that I can visit my grandfather's birthplace before I die.

Oslo is one of my favorites, arriving via Oslofjorden is stunning. Frogner Park, and the museums are special places. I didn't go on a tour, just prepared well and wandered on my own. Eh, don't order strawberries at Holmekollen restaurant unless you have a lot of spare cash. [Family story.]

I take it you're not from The Great State. The pine curtain to which REWahoo fondly referred is often called the The Piney Woods. With the exception of the Bastrop area (should be called the Stolen Pines of Texas instead of the Lost Pines because we're pretty sure they came from over here), there is a pretty clear line between the Piney Woods of East Texas and the rest of the state. East Texas is renown for their pine tree stands. Well, stands of all sort; but, most of the forests are pine with some hardwoods.

Oh, sure, the folks in the hill country say they have trees. We have TREES. Don't even ask the people in far West Texas if they have any 'cause they think mesquite scrubs are trees.

My hat is off to you for putting captions on all the pictures. You must have amazing patience!

When we were on our Antarctica trip, another cruise ship ran aground. As you know, all ships with reasonable proximity to the distressed ship must respond; however, Le Diamant was far enough away it was not a first responder in this specific situation. Our ship was on notice in case things changed.

Think of the stories you could tell all your friends! I'm not sure what kind of accommodations were available to the tourists on South Shetland Islands. I wonder if they stayed at the station on Deception Island? I'm not sure it's big enough to accommodate very many people. It will be interesting to find out once they get back to the states.

Hi Scott from Utah,
I got excited about the cruise you took and went on the Holland website to check it out. I just went back and the January cruise doesn't show up so it must be sold out. The December 20th holiday cruise is still there though.
I would have some trepidation going on a cruise for 17 days that only has 6 shore days. Did you feel you got close enough in Antartica to see enough to get your moneys worth? We love cruising with HAL but that seems like too many at sea days. I looked and it seems to be the case for all of the South American cruises. I'm not sure why? No good places to stop?
kbst

That does seem like a small amount of shore days. We were on shore every day with the Le Diamant (Gohagan Travel) with the exception of one day due to weather and one travel day around the islands.

You need to allow two days each way for the Drake Passage. That still gives you 13 days. You're right, it just doesn't add up. Are you sure they're not including a few days in Buenos Aires on the front and back end of the cruise and maybe a side trip to the Iguazu Falls?

That does seem like a small amount of shore days. We were on shore every day with the Le Diamant (Gohagan Travel) with the exception of one day due to weather and one travel day around the islands.

You need to allow two days each way for the Drake Passage. That still gives you 13 days. You're right, it just doesn't add up. Are you sure they're not including a few days in Buenos Aires on the front and back end of the cruise and maybe a side trip to the Iguazu Falls?

No. Go to Holland's site and search the cruises in South America. They only have 1 that goes to Antartica and it's on the 3rd page.
kbst

Hi Scott from Utah,
I got excited about the cruise you took and went on the Holland website to check it out. I just went back and the January cruise doesn't show up so it must be sold out. The December 20th holiday cruise is still there though.
I would have some trepidation going on a cruise for 17 days that only has 6 shore days. Did you feel you got close enough in Antartica to see enough to get your moneys worth? We love cruising with HAL but that seems like too many at sea days. I looked and it seems to be the case for all of the South American cruises. I'm not sure why? No good places to stop?
kbst

We spent almost two days in Buenos Aires before the tour, spent a total of three "At Sea" days (days without anything to see except sea), and had shore days in Montevideo, Puerto Madryn, Falkland Islands, Ushuaia, Puerto Chacabuco (in place of Puerto Montt), Valparaíso/Viña del Mar, and almost two days in Santiago. So I felt that we had enough land tours at these 8 locations.

As for getting close enough, I was worried about that before the tour. My test of success was whether or not I was able to get good photos of individual penguins and seals and closeups of mountains and glaciers. Based on these pictures, I consider the "closeness" totally acceptable and well worth the trip. Of course, my 70-300mm telephone zoom lens made the closeup photos possible.

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